The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (190721).Volume X. The Age of Johnson.

II. Fielding and Smollett.

§ 15. Further pamphlets on social reform.

The years 1749 and 1750 found Fielding assiduous in his duties as magistrate. In May of the former year, he was chairman of quarter sessions; and, in the following month, he delivered a famous charge to the Westminster grand jury. His published works for the two years consisted only of pamphlets: one, in defence of his action in sentencing one Bosavern Penlez to death for rioting and theft; the other, the weighty Enquiry into the Causes of the late Increase of Robbers, which shows how earnestly he studied and desired to remove the causes of crime. Hogarths Gin Lane is supposed to have been inspired by this pamphlet.